DEC  3  ».. 


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RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 


WHAT  PLACE  IT  SHOULD  HAVE. 


BEING  AN  EXAMINATION  Of  PRESIDENT  ELIOT'S  PAPER,  READ 

BEFORE    THE  NINETEENTH    CENTURY   CLUB, 

IN  NEV/  YORK,  FEB.  j,  1886. 


BY 

JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.LIT., 

President  of  Priticeton  College. 

Author  of  "'The  Method  of  Divine  Government,"  The  Emotions, 
Philosophic  Series,  &c. 


LC39I    ^"»i"^^ 

Mi  mA.     C.     ARMSTRONG     k    SON, 
I  J  714    Broadway. 


886. 


RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 


WHAT  PLACE  IT  SHOULD  HAVE. 


BEING  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  ELIOT' S  PAPER,  READ 

BEFORE    THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  CLUB, 

IN  NEW  YORK,  FEB.  3,  1886. 


y^  BY 

JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  D.LIT., 

President  of  Princeton  College, 

Author  of  "The  Method  of  Divine  Government,"  The  Emotions, 
Philosophic  Series,  &c. 


9^to  gork: 

A.    C.    ARMSTRONG     &    SON, 

714    Broadway. 
1886. 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


I  have  engaged  in  this  discussion  only  from  a  sense  of 
duty.  Unless  Christian  sentiment  arrest  it,  religion,  with- 
out being  noticed,  will  disappear  from  a  number  of  our 
colleges,  that  is,  from  the  education  and  training  of  many 
of  our  abler  and  promising  young  men. 

I  regret  that  my  distinguished  opponent  did  not  consent, 
when  I  requested  it,  to  his  paper  being  published  along 
with  mine,  as  I  should  have  liked  the  public  to  see  both 
sides. 

Princeton,  N.  J.,  Feb.  20,  1886. 


The  Place  of  Religion  in  a  College 


Of  late  years  a  great  change  is  going  on  in  many  of  our 
American  colleges  as  to  the  place  allotted  to  religion.  Nearly 
uil  the  older  colleges,  such  as  Harvard,  Yale  and  Princeton, 
were  founded  in  the  fear  of  God,  with  the  blessing  of  hea- 
ven invoked;  they  gave  rehgious  instruction  to  the  students, 
and  had  weekly  and  daily  exercises  of  praise  and  prayer  to 
Almighty  God.  But  some  of  them,  as  they  became  larger  and 
had  a  greater  and  more  varied  constituency  of  teachers  and 
students,  found  a  difficulty  in  carrying  out  this  thoroughly, 
and  are  abandoning  one  position  after  another,  till  now  little 
is  left.  Several  colleges  founded  at  a  later  date  make  no 
profession  of  religion.  The  universities  under  State  control, 
being  troubled  in  dealing  with  the  various  sects — Christian 
and  Jewish,  Cathohc  and  Protestant — have  found  it  easiest 
to  give  up  all  rehgious  services  of  a  systematic  kind.  I  am 
not  sure  that  the  public  generally  are  realizing  the  change 
that  is  taking  place — regular  preaching  being  given  up  one 
year,  and  Sabbath  and  daily  devotional  exercises  a  few  jeans 
after.     This  ''  gradual  transformation  "  has  been  called  this 


6  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 

evening  by  my  opponent  an  "  inevitable  and  blameless  pro- 
cess." Surely  parents — fathers  and  mothers — concerned 
about  the  training  of  their  children  for  this  life  and  the  life 
to  come,  wishing  to  have  knowledge  imparted  to  them,  but 
also  to  have  their  character  properly  formed,  should  know 
all  this.  They  should  have  something  to  say  on  this  subject 
as  well  as  the  college  teachers,  most  of  whom  are  mere  schol- 
ars, anxious  to  promote  their  several  branches  of  learning, 
but  now  taught  that  they  do  not  need  to  care  for  anything 
beyond. 

It  is  because  I  feel  that  we  have  come  to  an  important  cri- 
sis, and  that  fathers  and  mothers  should  know  it,  that  I  have 
agreed  to  engage  in  this  discussion;  disputation,  except  to 
defend  great  principles,  being  uncongenial  to  my  nature. 

In  taking  my  side  I  must  have  certain  things  presup- 
posed, otherwise  I  have  nothing  to  argue  from  or  upon.  I 
presume  that  I  am  addressing  persons  who  beheve  in  relig- 
ion, who  believe  in  God,  who  believe  in  a  moral  law,  that 
we  have  broken  that  law,  that  the  soul  is  immortal,  and  that 
there  is  to  be  a  judgment  day.  I  may  assume  that  I  am 
not  addressing  a  company  of  agnostics  who  believe  in  things 
that  can  be  seen,  in  meat  and  money,  but  not  in  things  that 
are  spiritual  and  divine.  If  I  had  to  argue  before  such  an 
audience  I  would  have  to  begin  with  trying  to  convince 
them  that  religion  is  a  reality.  If  there  be  any  here  who 
can  look  abroad  on  these  wondrous  works  in  earth  and  hea- 
ven and  discover  no  design  in  them,  who  believe  themselves 
to  be  upper  brutes,  and  do  not  acknowledge  that  they  have 
a  soul  distinct  from  the  body,  or  that  we  have  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  whether  they  have  been 
good  or  evil,  it  is  of  no  use  for  me  to  address  myself  to  such, 
for  they  are  committed  against  me ;  they  cannot  wish  to  have 
religion  in  our  colleges,  for  they  do  not  wish  it  for  themselves. 


WHAT  PLACE  IT  SHOULD  HAVE. 


I  am  not  to  speak  to  so  thin  a  section  of  the  community; 
but  to  those  who,  with  the  great  body  of  people  in  this  coun- 
try, and  all  others  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  believe  that 
there  is  a  God,  and  that  all  men  stand  in  a  close  and  de- 
pendent relation  towards  him.  But  if  there  be  a  religion  it 
is  a  great  and  solemn  reality,  a  truth  from  its  very  nature 
above  all  other  truths,  and  fraught  with  vast,  with  infinite 
issues,  transcending  all  human  calculation.  This  thought 
will  awe  us  all,  especially  those  who  engage  in  the  discussion. 

In  now  proceeding  to  argue  tliat  rehgion  should  have  a 
recognized  place  in  a  college,  I  am  anxious  that  it  should  be 
understood  that  I  stand  up  resolutely  for  the  rights  of  con- 
science possessed  by  parents  and  by  students  arrived  at  ma- 
turity. No  student  should  be  required  to  attend  rehgious 
instruction  against  the  will  of  his  parents  if  he  is  under  age, 
or  his  own  convictions  if  he  be  of  age.  I  am  convinced  that 
it  is  quite  possible  to  keep  up  religion  in  a  college  and  yet 
rigidly  adhere  to  ilie  conscience  clause,  as  it  is  called  in  Great 
Britain.  This  has  been  done  in  three  hundred  colleges  in 
America.  I  was  sixteen  years  a  professor  in  a  government 
college  in  Ireland,  and  had  both  Catholics  and  Protestants 
as  pupils,  and  never  had  a  difficulty.  I  have  been  a  still 
longer  time  at  the  head  of  a  college  in  this  country,  and  have 
had  under  me  Jews  and  Catholics,  and  yet  never  had  a  dis- 
pute with  a  student  on  the  subject  of  religion.  Wliat  I  have 
done  could  be  done  by  any  other  man,  earnest  and  yet  tol- 
erant. 

I  give  prominence  to  this  principle  at  the  very  opening 
of  my  paper,  as  it  removes  at  once  certain  misapprehensions 
into  which  my  opponent  has  been  led,  and  fears  which 
trouble  him.  He  charges  religious  colleges  with  "  attack- 
ing every  student  with  questions,"  with  making  denomina- 
tional membership   a  condition   of    beneficiary   aid,    and 


8  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 

' '  imposing  religious  opinions  upon  a  susceptible  and  un- 
fledged mind."  There  is  no  such  thing  as  this  in  the 
great  body  of  American  colleges,  which  profess  to  teach 
religion  along  with  other  branches.  There  may  be  such 
in  a  few  of  what  Dr.  Eliot  calls  ''thoroughgoing  de- 
nominational colleges,"  with  which  I  have  as  Httle  con- 
cuiTence  as  he  has.  But  it  is  not  so  in  upward  of  300 
of  American  colleges  which  inculcate  religion  without  in- 
terfering with  any  one's  conscience.  In  these  the  praters 
and  praises  offered  are  of  a  thoroughly  catholic  (in  the 
true  sense  of  the  term)  character.  You  might  attend  such 
colleges  for  months  without  discovering  what  denomination 
patronizes  it.  In  the  college  to  which  I  belong,  the  money- 
aids,  prizes,  fellowships  and  all  honors  are  open  to  all, 
whether  they  make  a  profession  of  religion  or  no,  whether 
they  be  Jew  or  Gentile,  Protestant  or  Catholic;  whether 
they  come  from  America,  Europe  or  Asia— say  Japan,  from 
all  of  which  bodies  we  have  always  students.  No  attempt 
is  made  to  make  a  student  change  his  religious  denomina- 
tion, though  endeavors  may  be  made  by  sermons  or  conver- 
sation to  allure  him  to  a  prayer-meeting  or  even  to  a  meet- 
ing for  a  revival  of  religion — of  which  I  have  no  such  hor- 
ror as  my  opponent  seems  to  have. 

The  President  of  Harvard  stands  up  for  what  he  calls  Un- 
sectarian  Colleges.  He  claims  for  such  that  their  position 
is  unmistakable.  I  believe  it  to  be  so.  It  does  not  mean 
that  they  teach  religion  without  sectarianism — which  is 
perfectly  possible,  I  think — but  that  they  teach  no  religion 
at  all,  while  possibly,  as  I  know  to  be  the  case  in  some  col- 
leges, some  of  the  instructors  may  be  throwing  out  innuendos 
which  tend  to  undermine  religion  in  the  youthful  mind. 
He  describes  the  position  of  our  professedly  religious  col- 
leges as  mistakable.     I  do  not  find  that  on  the  part  of  any 


WHAT  PLACE  IT  SHOULD  HAVE. 


one  there  is  a  mistake  as  to  what  we  do  in  Princeton.  It  is 
all  published  in  our  catalogue.  We  have  prayers  with  sing- 
ing, we  have  Scripture  and  Scriptui'e  teaching;  but  in  the 
sense  I  have  explained,  we  force  them  on  no  one,  and  we 
always  respect  the  religious  convictions  of  parents  and  of 
young  men  of  mature  age. 

Dr.  Eliot  thinks  that  religion  cannot  be  maintained  in 
the  colleges  of  a  country  in  which  there  is  no  established 
church.  But  in  our  National  Congress  religion  is  publicly 
honored  by  devotional  exercises  without  any  denomination- 
alism.  So  in  our  colleges  there  may  be  the  worship  of  God 
without  any  sectarian  peculiarities. 

My  opponent  has  placed  the  colleges  in  respect  of  the 
place  they  give  to  religion  under  three  heads.  For  my  pur- 
poses I  divide  them  into  two  :  those  which  give  an  import- 
ant place  to  religion,  having  prayer  and  praise  and  relig- 
ious instruction;  and  those  which  virtually  and  actually  take 
no  serious  interest  in  divine  things.  By  far  the  greater 
number  of  our  400  colleges  belong  professedly,  and  most 
of  them  really,  to  the  first  class.  You  will  permit  me  to  say 
that  some  are  sinking  into  the  second,  and  if  Harvard  leads 
a  number  will  follow.  It  is,  if  possible,  to  arrest  the  de- 
scent down  this  sliding  scale  that  I  engage  in  this  discus- 
sion. 

We  may  expediently  argue  in  favor  of  the  retention 
of  religion  in  a  college  on  two  grounds :  its  benefits  first  to 
the  community,  and  secondly  to  the  individual  student. 

L  The  influence  of  religiously  trained  men  {and  women )  upon 
the  community.  It  is  acknowledged  on  all  hands  that  col- 
leges imparting  the  highest  education  in  various  branches 
of  literature,  of  science  and  of  philosophy,  which  caU  forth 
the  thinking  powers  of  the  mind,  have  an  important  place 
and  power  in  advancing  a  nation,     The  hundreds  of  gradu- 


10  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 


ates  sent  forth  every  year  into  every  large  State  in  the 
Union  have  a  mighty  influence  on  the  professions  which 
they  select  and  the  districts  in  which  they  settle,  in  cities 
and  scattered  villages.  As  ministers  of  religion,  as  law- 
yers, as  doctors,  as  engineers  and  architects  and  artists,  as 
private  gentlemen  living  on  their  money,  or  employed  in 
various  kinds  of  business  or  in  farming  in  East  or  West; 
these  promote  the  intelhgence  of  the  people,  stimulate  their 
enterprise,  elevate  their  tastes  and  even  their  manners. 
May  they  not  also  exercise  a  mighty  influence,  by  their  ex- 
ample and  their  teachings,  on  the  morals  and  piety  of  their 
districts  ?  The  public  are  interested  to  know  whether  those 
sent  forth  among  them  have  or  have  not  been  religiously 
trained  when  their  character  and  habits  were  formed.  It 
is  declared  by  my  opponent,  "  Nobody  knows  how  to  teach 
morality  effectively  without  religion. " 

It  is  acknowledged  on  all  hands  as  a  matter  of  fact  that 
Christianity  has  had  a  mighty  influence  in  stimulating  and 
in  forming  modern  civilization,  making  it  superior  in  purity 
and  elevation  to  the  most  famous  of  its  ancient  forms — that 
of  Greece.  Oiu'  art  and  our  literature  have  had  their  color 
and  shape  imparted  to  them  by  our  holy  religion.  Our 
finest  statues  and  paintings  have  taken  up  Christian  char- 
acters and  incidents  and  have  embodied  in  outward  shape 
Christian  thought  and  sentiments.  Our  Gothic  cathedrals 
are  our  grandest  buildings,  rising  with  their  pointed  arches 
to  heaven  and  carrying  our  thoughts  up  thither.  The  most 
sublime  of  our  modern  poets,  Dante  and  Milton,  drew  their 
pictures  and  language  from  classical  models,  but  got  their 
inspiration  from  the  Bible.  It  has  been  shovm  again  and 
again  that  Shakespeare,  using  material  from  all  past  history 
and  aU  countries,  is  indebted  to  the  Bible  more  than  to  any 
other  book.     We  get  some  of  our  highest  ideas  from  that 


WE  AT  PLAGE  IT  SHOULD  HA  VE.  11 

God-inspired  book :  such  as  those  of  infinity,  of  eternity,  of 
responsibility,  absolute  purity,  perfection;  and  these  are 
the  ideas  which  hold  the  highest  place  in  our  highest 
poetry.  It  might  be  maintained  that  our  great  religious 
orators,  preachers  and  poets  fui'nish  about  the  highest  liter- 
ature which  we  have,  the  most  persuasive  and  penetrating, 
searching  the  deepest  secrets  of  our  heai-ts.  Are  these  to 
be  excluded  from  the  habitual,  from  the  Sabbath  teachings 
of  our  colleges,  because  it  is  alleged  they  are  sectarian?  In 
excluding  the  holy  Scriptures  they  are  taking  away  the  sun 
from  our  sky,  leaving  us  only  the  lesser  Lights  like  those  of 
the  stars. 

Religion  has  promoted  the  common  arts  and  industries, 
and  stirred  every  form  of  benevolent  activity.  ^Yhen  people 
are  led  to  believe  that  they  have  immortal  souls,  that  they 
are  responsible  to  God,  that  God  is  good  and  gave  His  Son 
to  die  for  us,  they  will  be  prompted  and  led,  yea,  forced,  to 
exert  themselves  in  an  infinite  variety  of  ways  to  do  good. 
All  modern  history  testifies  that  the  true,  the  practical  meth- 
od of  progress  is  first  to  christianize  a  people,  when  civiliza- 
tion will  follow  as  fruit  grows  from  the  seed,  and  not  to  begin 
with  trying  to  civilize  those  who  have  as  yet  no  taste  for 
knowledge  and  refinement.  Historically,  this  is  the  way  in 
which  Europe  has  been  brought  to  its  present  advanced 
stage.  The  schools  and  universities  of  Europe  were  estab- 
lished by  men  swayed  by  religious  motives.  Knox,  in  Scot- 
land, was  the  first  to  set  up  a  system  of  popular  education, 
and  was  followed  in  New  England,  where  they  gave  a  high 
place  to  religion  in  schools  and  academies. 

In  this  respect  my  distinguished  opponent  and  myself 
are  alike;  we  both  preside  over  colleges  avowedly  set  up 
to  promote  morality  and  reHgion.  The  motto  of  Harvard 
is,  Fro  Ghristo  et  Ecclesia,  and  on  the  seal  of  Princeton  the 


12  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 

inscription  is,  Vitam  mortuis  reddo,  witli  Vet.  et  Nov.  Test. 
In  upwards  of  three  hundred  colleges  these  words  might 
be  inscribed  on  their  walls  down  to  this  day.  The  records 
of  modern  missions  show  that  this  is  the  way  in  which  the 
dark  continents  of  Asia  and  Africa  are  even  now  being 
illuminated.  In  these  discussions  of  last  year  and  this  I 
am  arguing  that  every  new  branch  of  genuine  literature 
and  true  science  should  be  placed  in  our  curriculum,  but 
I  also  demand  that  the  best  old  studies  which  have  stood 
the  test  of  time  should  be  retained,  such  as  the  Greek 
language  and  literature  and  the  Bible.  "Withdi^aw  Chris- 
tianity from  our  colleges  and  we  have  taken  away  one 
of  the  vital  forces  which  have  given  life  and  body  to  our 
higher  education. 

The  typical  university  recommended  by  the  President  of 
Harvard  is  denominated  Unsectarian.  Unsectarian  is  at  best 
a  negative  phrase;  excluding  much,  but  including  nothing 
fitted  to  attract  the  mind.  Over  the  gates  of  this  model 
university  might  be  written,  *'A11  knowledge  imparted  here 
except  religious."  It  will  be  explained  to  the  Freshman  as 
he  enters  by  the  knowing  ones,  his  seniors: 

"Physical  laws  are  taught  here,  gravitation,  chemical 
"  affinity,  conservation  of  energy,  but  it  is  utterly  beyond 
"  our  sphere  to  explain  the  relation  of  law  to  God  or  the 
''•  law  which  binds  man  to  his  Maker.  All  kinds  of  litera- 
"  ture  are  taught  here :  Anacreon,  Latin  satirists  describ- 
*-ing  Koman  vices,  Eabelais,  French  novels  and  plays,  but 
"not  the  now  antiquated  Hebrew  Scriptures  or  the  dis- 
"  courses  of  the  Galilean.  Wycherly,  Fielding,  Smollet,  By- 
*'  ron  and  Swinburne  are  favorites  here,  but  the  books  of 
"Job,  Moses  and  Isaiah  are  out  of  date.  Hume  is  studied 
"here,  and  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  and  Tom  Paine;  but  we 
"are  considerably  above   and  beyond  the  narrow  Jewish 


WHA  T  PL  A  GE  IT  SHO  ULD  HA  VE.  13 

"  reasoDings  of  Paul  or  the  sentiment  of  John,  and  we  find 
"  Butlers  Analogy  wearisome.  We  admire  all  forms  of  lit- 
*'erature,  but  we  never  think  of  looking  into  sermons  and 
"hymns;  they  are  sectarian.  Music  in  the  highest  is  cul- 
'•'  tivated  here,  but  it  is  to  give  pleasure  to  ourselves,  and 
"  we  do  not  employ  it  in  the  service  of  God. " 

If  religion  is  not  honored  in  a  college,  any  one  acquainted 
with  human  nature,  and  with  the  present  tendencies  of 
opinion,  can  easily  perceive  what  will  be  the  prevailing  spirit 
among  the  students.  Positive  religious  belief  being  left 
out  by  the  wise  heads  of  the  colleges,  will  be  regarded  as 
antiquated  and  effete,  like  the  superstitions  of  ages  past. 
It  cannot  create  the  interest  which  the  retained  studies  do, 
and  it  will  be  looked  on  as  belonging  to  the  past  and  hav- 
ing no  place  in  these  enlightened  times.  With  this  spirit 
abroad  the  floating  sentiments  in  the  air  will  crystallize 
into  the  ice  of  Agnosticism  with  all  its  chilling  and  deadly 
influence;  and  the  great  body  of  the  young  men  will  settle 
down  into  the  conviction  that  nothing  can  be  known  of 
God,  of  the  world  above  or  the  world  to  come. 

Even  in  such  a  state  of  things  there  would  be  some  thor- 
oughly drilled  at  home  in  the  old  faith  who  would  still  ad- 
here to  it.  It  may  be  farther  allowed  that  as  men's  souls 
cannot  live  in  an  utterly  creedless  state,  any  more  than  their 
bodies  can  live  in  a  vacuum,  so  there  will  be  times  when 
there  will  come  bursts  of  religious  feeling,  probably  of  a 
debasing  form,  and  liable  to  die  out  speedily,  like  the  burn- 
ing of  straw,  leaving  only  ashes  behind.  Still  the  prevail- 
ing spirit  of  the  place  would  be  that  of  religious  indiffer- 
ence. This  would  be  apt  to  spread  from  college  to  college, 
from  the  unwillingness  of  Professors,  now  become  so  com- 
mon, to  have  nothing  to  do  with  an;)i;hing  but  the  teaching 
of  their  own  branches,  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 


14  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 


morals  of  the  etudents,  and  from  the  desire  of  young  men 
to  be  free  from  all  restraint.  If  I  am  not  misinformed, 
there  are  colleges— happily  as  yet  only  a  few— where  such 
a  spirit  is  abroad. 

Surely  there  is  some  risk  in  withdrawing  from  our  educa- 
tional institutions  this  power,  which  has  so  strengthened 
them  in  the  past.  Thinking  minds  may  well  consider  what 
would  be  the  effect  of  sending  out  into  society  a  few  hundred 
agnostics  every  year,  first  to  chill  the  atmosphere  around 
tiiem  and  then  to  oppose  those  grand  philanthropic  and  mis- 
sionary efforts  which  are  one  of  the  glories  of  our  country. 

II.  We  have  now  to  view  religion  in  its  influence  on  the 
individual  student.  This  is  equally  important.  Indeed,  it 
is  only  by  its  power  over  individuals  that  it  comes  to  sway 
the  community. 

It  is  when  they  are  at  college  that  the  character  of  stu- 
dents is  commonly  formed  for  life.  How  important  in  this 
world  of  good  and  evil  that  every  good  influence  should  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  them:  models  for  them  to  copy, hopes 
to  cheer  them,  inducements  to  lead  them  to  excellence.  I 
am  sure  that  the  great  body  of  fathers  and  mothers,  sensi- 
tively anxious  about  the  welfare  of  their  children,  would 
wish  it  to  be  so.  All  true  Christians  believe  that  faith  in  a 
God  and  Saviour  is  the  most  potent  force  which  can  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  young,  to  lift  them  above  them- 
selves, and  above  the  selfish  and  sensual  world.  Every 
thoughtful  man  sees  that  means  should  be  employed  by 
those  who  have  young  men  committed  to  them,  to  lead  them 
to  believe  in  high  virtues  which  lift  them  above  the  mean- 
ness and  the  selfishness  of  the  world.  Under  such  training 
kindly  administered,  multitudes  have  been  saved  from  the 
vices  into  which  they  might  otherwise  have  fallen.  Many 
have  thus  been  led  under  inspiring  power  to  devote  them- 


WffA  T  FLA  GE  IT  SHO  ULD  HA  VE.  15 

selves  to  high  ends,  which  they  have  followed  through  life,  and 
diffused  around  a  happy,  perhaps  a  holy,  influence.  Every 
college  should  send  forth  yearly  a  body  of  men  intended  for 
the  ministry  of  the  Word,  and  a  number  of  missionaries  to 
carry  the  glad  tidings  of  the  love  of  God  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth.  "Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are 
honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report,  if  there  be  any  virtue,  if  there  be  any  praise, " 
all  young  men  in  our  colleges  should  be  taught  to  "think 
on  these  things." 

"  Is  life  worth  living  ?"  In  this  age  many  are  asking  this 
question  more  earnestly  than  has  been  done  since  the  de- 
clining ages  of  the  Roman  empire,  when  the  old  faith  w^as 
passing  away  and  the  new  faith  had  not  been  accepted.  It 
is  being  put  in  the  present  day  in  every  college  by  thought- 
ful youths  as  they  look  out  on  the  world  before  them,  which 
seems  like  an  agitated  and  broken  sea,  and  they  wonder  how 
they  are  to  launch  out  upon  it.  The  inquiry  is  made  most 
anxiously  by  those  who,  as  they  start  in  life,  are  met  with 
buijfetings  and  disappointments.  They  then  ask,  "What 
profit  hath  a  man  of  all  his  labor  wherein  he  laboreth  under 
the  sun  'i"  And  they  have  to  say,  "All  is  vanity  and  a  striv- 
ing after  wind  "  (Ecc.  1:14,  new  version).  This  question,  I 
know,  is  put  in  Princeton,  and  I  trust  we  can  give  an  an- 
swer to  it.  This  question  is  put  in  Harvard,  whether  the 
President  of  the  college  knows  it  or  not.  Agnosticism 
has  no  answer  to  it,  and  I  know  that  many  a  heart,  in  conse- 
quence, is  crushed  with  anguish  till  feelings  more  bitter 
than  tears  are  wrung  from  it.  The  ordinary  college  studies 
cannot  answer  the  question.  I  have  been  standing  up  for 
Greek  having  a  high  place  in  colleges,  but  Greek  says  it  is 
not  in  me  to  do  this.     Mathematics,  in  their  place,  are  the 


16  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 

most  certain  of  all  departments  of  knowledge,  but  tliey  say 
it  is  beyond  our  province  to  give  peace  to  the  soul.  Philos- 
ophy, with  all  its  depths,  says  it  is  not  in  me.  I  hold  that 
at  these  critical  periods  of  life,  those  who  have  to  instruct 
youth  should  have  an  answer  to  give  fitted  to  satisfy  the 
anxious  and  despondent,  and  on  which  they  may  rest. 

I  am  prepared  to  maintain  that  the  influence  of  the  liter- 
ature and  science  taught  in  our  colleges  is,  upon  the  whole, 
for  good — for  good  morally  as  well  as  intellectually.  They 
tend  to  refine  the  mind,  and  to  create  higher  tastes  and  as- 
pirations. But,  after  all,  they  do  not  reach  down  into  the 
deepest  depths  of  the  heart  whence  are  the  issues  of  life. 
They  do  not  speak  to  the  conscience,  which  discerns  between 
good  and  evil;  they  do  not  sway  the  motives  and  form  the 
character,  as  religion  is  competent  to  do.  Faith  in  God  and 
Christ  and  spiritual  truth  can  see  that  life  is  worth  living, 
places  before  us  glorious  ends  and  useful  works,  and  sets 
the  young  man  forth  on  a  life  of  self-sacrifice,  of  love  and 
benevolence. 

I  am  quite  aware  that  "no  external  authority  can  make  any 
one  religious.'"'  But  I  believe  as  well  that  no  external  author- 
ity can  make  one  a  great  Greek  or  Mathematical  or  even 
English  scholar.  But  acknowledging  all  this,  you  require 
Greek,  you  require  Mathematics  and  English  as  binding 
studies  iu  the  entrance  to  the  college.  Do  in  religion  as 
you  do  in  Greek  and  Mathematics.  Use  means  to  allure 
young  men  to  all  these  studies.  Present  them  in  an  attract- 
ive light,  teach  them  thoroughly,  show  them  that  they  are 
useful,  that  they  are  elevating,  and  I  have  great  confidence 
that  the  issue  will  be  good. 

I  have  laid  down  the  principles  on  which,  I  think,  a  col- 
lege should  be  regulated  p^nd  governed.  I  am  nov/  to  ex- 
amine by  their  light  the  scheme  projiosed  this   evening. 


WHAT  PLACE  IT  SEOUL  D  IT  A  VE.  17 

The  author  of  the  i^aper  read  allows  the  principle  that  there 
may  be  provision  made  for  religion  in  collef^es.  "  Daily 
prayers  can  be  maintained  in  such  a  college,  with  attendance 
either  required  or  voluntary."  He  cannot  consistently  ob- 
ject, and  I  believe  he  does  not  object  on  principle,  to  relig- 
ion having  a  place  in  a  college.  But  if  it  is  to  have  a  place, 
it  should,  as  the  President  argues  as  to  college  instruction 
generally,  be  clear  and  unmistakable.  I  object  to  its  being 
merely  tolerated,  or  having  an  ambiguous  position,  as  if 
the  college  was  afi*aid  of  it  or  ashamed  of  it,  and  wished  to 
confine  it  as  much  as  possible.  If  this  is  done  the  question 
will  be  asked,  as  it  is  asked,  why  strive  to  keep  up  relig- 
ious services,  and  the  students  will  say  it  is  time  we  were 
done  with  it,  for  it  is  a  farce. 

I  believe  that  religion  can  have  an  honored  and  a  useful 
place  in  all  our  colleges  if  the  colleges  are  in  earnest.  The 
great-  body  of  tliem  have  had  this  in  the  past,  and  I  be- 
lieve can  have  it  in  the  future.  Why  should  they  give  up 
this  prestige  which  we  have  inherited  from  our  fathers? 
Why  should  the  rising  generation  be  placed  in  a  worse 
position  in  regard  to  religion  than  their  ancestors,  while  in 
all  other  learning  they  are  more  favorably  situated  ?  If 
religion  is  beneficent,  and  if  it  be  taught,  let  us  get  all  the 
benefits  from  it  we  can,  as  we  do  from  all  other  branches. 

At  Harvard,  as  I  understand,  attendance  at  prayers  is  re- 
quired not  every  morning,  but  several  times  a  week.  There 
is  no  regular  preaching  on  the  Sabbaths  during  the  day. 
For  a  few  months  in  spring  there  is  public  worship,  not 
compulsory,  on  the  Sabbath  evening.  The  President  did 
me  the  honor  to  ask  me  to  preach  on  one  of  these  occasions. 
There  was  a  full  church,  but  not  half  of  those  attencbug 
were  students;  the  majority  seemed  to  be  people  from 
Cambridge.     Seats  are  taken,  as  we  have  been  told,  in  six 


18  RELIGION  IN  A  GOLLEOE: 

places  of  worship  belonging  to  different  denominations,  for 
those  who  choose  to  occupy  them. 

So  far  as  I  can  see  there  will  b©  no  attempt  to  drive  relig- 
ion out  of  the  college,  but  it  looks  as  if  some  were  preparing 
to  let  it  die  out.  Already  upwards  of  800  students  have 
petitioned  that  prayers  be  given  up,  and  the  Professors,  it 
is  reported,  have  concurred  with  them.  It  must  be  a  diffi- 
cult matter  to  keep  up  religions  services  with  such  a  state 
of  popular  sentiment.  It  looks  already  as  if  religion  were 
a  vanishing  quantity.  In  the  eyes  of  students  it  appears 
as  it  were  waxing  old  and  ready  to  perish.  Downward 
steps  have  been  taken,  which  by  the  impetus  given  must 
go  on  in  a  descent  into  a  lower  depth. 

These  dozen  university  sermons  serve,  I  believe,  a  good 
purpose.  They  allow  the  students,  if  they  are  inclined,  to 
hear  the  eloquent  sermons  of  some  of  our  best  preachers. 
Bat  they  cannot  accomplish  the  end  served  by  regular  pas- 
toral discourses  preached  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  and 
suited  to  the  wants  and  state  of  the  audience.  The  Presi- 
dent is  ready  to  allow  prayers  in  a  college,  "  because  there 
is  no  opportunity  for  doctrinal  teaching  at  prayers."  I  am 
not  sure  that  this  added  reason  is  a  good  one.  If  men  have 
no  underlying  belief  in  truth,  they  will  not  be  apt  to  continue 
in  prayer,  or  their  devotions  will  be  dead,  and,  therefore, 
cold,  and  be  offered  only  fitfully  on  rare  occasions. 

Seats  are  provided  in  several  of  the  churches,  but  there  is 
no  means  provided  of  securing  that  the  great  body  of  the 
students  take  advantage  of  these  privilegeso  There  are  rigid 
examinations  required  in  all  other  branches,  which  all  but 
compel  a  daily  attendance  on  recitations,  but  no  surveillance 
is  taken  in  regard  to  the  observance  of  religious  duties. 
With  no  other  arrangement  than  this,  those  most  in  need  of 
the  benign  influence  of  religion,  in  guiding  and  in  guarding 


WHAT  PLAGE  IT  SlIOi'Ll)  IIA  VE.  19 

at  this  crisis  of  their  immortal  life,  would  be  without  it,  for 
they  have  no  taste  for  it,  and  they  turn  away  from  what  they 
fear  would  condemn  them. 

The  students,  in  their  petition  for  deliverance,  urge  that 
with  no  compulsion  attendance  at  prayers  and  at  churcii 
would  be  a  sign  of  sincerity.  I  ask  them,  would  such  a  mo- 
tive secure  attention  to  other  branches — say  mathematics  ? 
Would  anybody  give  us  credit  for  good  sense,  or  even  sin- 
cerity, if  we  said:  better  have  no  examination  of  students  in 
mathematics,  as  thereby  they  would  the  better  show  their 
taste  for  the  study  when  they  attend  to  it  ?  It  is  one  of  the 
grand  offices  of  a  college  to  kindle  a  taste  for  all  that  is  good 
and  elevating,  be  it  mathematics  or  be  it  religion,  and  to 
foster  it  when  it  is  feeble.  I  regard  it  as  wrong  in  a  college 
to  call  students  away  from  their  parents,  away  from  home 
influence,  away  fi:om  church  influence,  and  then  allow  them 
to  spend  their  Sabbaths  as  they  please — in  idleness  or  dis- 
sipation. 

I  find  that  my  opponent  has  expressed  this  view  more 
effectively  than  I  have.  He  is  represented  in  the  public 
press  as  reading  to  the  Unitarian  Club  a  paper  on  "  Secu- 
larization of  Education,  not  a  Rational  End."  He  referred 
to  the  theory  of  some,  that  religion  can  well  be  left  out  of 
the  public  school  system  altogether,  just  as  the  study  of 
algebra  or  English  history  might  be  omitted  from  a  course 
of  study.  This  course,  he  said,  is  approved  by  the  current 
socialistic  philosophy.  The  President  said  that,  **  while  it 
was  agreed  on  all  sides  that  the  fundamental  iniles  of  morality 
should  be  universally  taught  to  the  youth  of  the  community, 
nobody  has  yet  shown  how  it  can  be  done  apart  from  the 
sanctions  of  religion.  There  is  no  such  thing,"  he  said, 
"  as  a  science  of  ethics.  If  moraUty  is  to  be  taught,  religion 
must  be  taught  with  it."     I  am  sorry  to  find  the  President 


20  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE: 

of  a  great  college  declaring  tliat  there  is  no  science  of  ethics, 
whereas  I  hold  there  has  been  such  a  science  since  the  time 
of  Socrates  and  Aristotle.  But  I  rejoice  in  his  statement 
about  the  dependence  of  morality  on  religion.  He  is  speak- 
ing of  the  national  schools  for  children;  but  if  religion  be 
needful  to  morality  among  children  under  their  fathers'  and 
mothers'  care,  and  that  of  ministers  of  religion,  it  is,  if  pos- 
sible, still  more  required  at  the  critical  period  of  young 
men's  lives  when  they  are  at  college.  He  speaks:  "But  is 
this  to  be  done  without  religious  teaching  ?"  No,  probably 
by  the  teachers  of  geometry  or  geology,  who  would  be  go- 
ing out  of  their  way  in  attempting  it.  There  is  a  risk  that 
colleges  left  without  religious,  may  be  left  also  without 
moral,  teaching. 

It  will  be  an  ominous  day  when  one  or  more  of  our  great 
colleges  are  brought  to  declare  openly:  "  We  are  to  give  up 
trying  to  maintain  religion  in  a  college;  we  are  unwilling  to 
attempt  it;  nay,  more,  it  cannot  be  done."  Yet  we  have  seri- 
ously to  contemplate  such  an  issue  as  possibly  or  probably, 
as  sooner  or  later,  coming  in  our  State  colleges,  and  in  some 
others.  Beginning  in  a  very  limited  number  of  colleges,  we 
may  fear  its  extension  from  two  causes — from  the  desire  of 
young  men  to  be  freed  from  all  restraints,  and  from  the 
growing  indisposition  of  young  Professors  to  take  any  charge 
of  the  morals  of  young  men. 

We  may  suppose  that  there  is  a  college  in  which  all  at- 
tempts to  give  religion  a  place  are  abandoned.  What  would 
be  the  effect?  Would  religion,  therefore,  die  out  in  the 
country  ?  I  believe  no  such  thing.  Christianity  is  founded 
on  a  rock,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  be  able  to  prevail 
against  it. 

I  believe  that  the  abandonment  of  religion  would  be  a  loss 
to  the  college.     It  would  thereby  deprive  itself  of   a  most 


WHAT  PLACE  IT  SHOILD  UA  VE.  21 

beneficent  power  which  it  at  present  has.  There  would  be  a 
loss  felt  even  by  those  too  proud  to  acknowledge  it.  If  re- 
ligion supplies  motives  to  lead  young  men  to  live  morally, 
why  should  not  colleges  take  advantage  of  it  ?  We  cannot 
too  often  quote  the  statement,  "Nobody  knows  how  to 
teach  morality  effectively  without  religion."  No  bond  will 
connect  students  and  Professors  so  closely  as  the  religion  of 
love.  A  mere  savant  in  a  college  may,  after  all,  be  a  narrow- 
minded  man — believing  only  in  mechanism.  A  mere  classi- 
cal scholar  may  be  a  pedant,  believing  only  in  words.  Noth- 
ing will  enlarge  these  men's  minds  so  effectively  as  belief  in 
the  grand  truths  of  religion. 

Keligion  can  and  must  be  maintained  in  a  college,  and 
this,  whether  college  authorities  do  or  do  not  undertake 
it.  I  believe  that  colleges  can  do  it  better  than  any  exter- 
nal body.  The  college  instructors  have  readier  and  closer 
access  to  students  than  any  others  can.  I  do  not  hold  that 
every  Professor  in  our  colleges  should  be  required  to  teach 
religion.  Some  otherwise  good  instructors  may  not  have 
the  taste  or  the  peculiar  aptitude  for  the  work.  But  surely, 
in  every  college  in  a  country  where  the  great  body  of  the 
people  profess  to  be  Christians,  there  will  be  some  whose 
heart  is  in  the  work — President,  or  Professors,  or  Tutors, 
willing  to  do  it  "  for  love's  sake."  What  I  ask  is,  that  the  col- 
leges arrange  that  this  be  done,  always  heartily  and  honestly, 
and  not  in  mere  name  and  form.  I  am  convinced  that  the 
great  body  of  parents  wish  it.  Even  those  who  have  no  re- 
ligion themselves,  shrink  from  the  idea  of  their  children 
being  placed  beyond  all  the  restraints,  the  hopes,  the  conso- 
lations of  a  "pure  religion  before  God  and  the  Father." 
And  if  this  can  be  done  in  a  college,  it  should  be  done. 

But  even  though  it  is  not  done  by  colleges,  even  when 
it  is  not  done  by  them,  it  has  to  be  done,  and  must  be  done. 


22  RELIGION  IN  A  COLLEGE. 

The  churches  of  Christ,  with  zealous  individuals,  will  have  to 
do  it.  They  will  feel  an  awful  responsibihty  lying  upon 
them.  Our  young  men  cannot  be  allowed  to  grow  up  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Christ.  The  churches  must 
and  will  hasten  to  take  up  the  work.  They  will  give  their 
best  thought  to  the  thorough  organization  and  execution  of 
it,  and  will  feel  that  among  all  their  varied  offices,  they  have 
not  a  greater  than  this.  They  will  feel  that  they  labor  under 
disadvantages;  they  may  not  be  able  to  reach  all  the  young 
men;  but  they  will  use  all  the  means  within  their  power. 
Should  Harvard  declare  its  inability,  then  the  Congrega- 
tional churches,  the  Episcopal  churches,  the  Methodist,  the 
Baptist  churches  must  earnestly  engage  in  the  work.  In 
faithfulness  to  their  Master,  they  cannot  allow  our  promis- 
ing young  men  to  collect  fi-om  all  parts  of  the  country,  to 
acquire  all  other  knowledge,  but  no  knowledge  of  God  and 
the  Saviour  he  has  provided.  I  will  be  satisfied  if  this  dis- 
cussion helps  to  awaken  the  churches  to  realize  their  deep 
responsibility  in  this  matter. 

At  the  age  at  which  I  have  arrived,  I  cannot  be  much 
longer  engaged  in  these  discussions.  I  am  glad  and  grate- 
ful that  I  have  been  privileged  to  defend  two  good  causes, 
closely  connected  on  the  one  hand  with  the  highest  scholar- 
ship, and  the  other  the  immortal  interests  of  the  young  men 
of  this  generation.  I  quote  once  more  the  words  of  my  op- 
ponent, and  allow  him  to  close :  "  This  is  the  interest  of  the 
family  and  of  moralit}^  Nobody  knows  how  to  teach  moral- 
ity effectively  without  religion." 


Date  Due 

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PHOTOMOUNT 
PAMPHLET  BINDER 

PAT.    NO. 

877188 

Manufactured  hy 

GAYLORD  BROS.  Inc. 

Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

Stockton,  Calif. 


LC391.M13 

Religion  in  a  college  :  what  place  it 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00057  6670 


